Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween, everyone! are you ready for passing out candy or taking your little ones out trick-or-treating tonight? we are taking our mini skeleton out trick-or-treating with friends. he had fun last year when he was one so we're expecting that he'll have even more fun this year.

we took Mr. Bagubian to the Tanaka Farms Pumpkin Patch on Monday afternoon and he loved it! we took a tractor-wagon ride, made our way through a corn maze, and took a walk through the pumpkin patch.

unfortunately, we didn't actually get a pumpkin! there just weren't that many good ones left. they have been sitting out in the hot California sun all month--and October has been very hot--so a lot of them were soft or already rotten.

we also were not going to have a chance to carve it before tonight so we skipped it. next year, we'll get our act together and go pumpkin hunting earlier in the season.

but Gooby had a good time anyhow. he kept trying to lift them up but they were pretty heavy for him.

he was very intrigued by all of the "scar-a-crows", too.

he did pretty well in the corn maze, leading us through, and saying "hi, corn" to all of the corn stalks.

and he even stopped (briefly) to pose for a photo with Mommy.

Hoss took this photo with his iPhone. we were bouncing along on the wagon ride so it's not super-sharp, but i love Mr. Bagubian's face here so i had to share it!

i'll leave you with this photo i took on my phone. i used the very cool Snapster app to edit it. we got the sun in a lot of our pictures because it was late afternoon and i love the impact that it has on the subjects of the photos.

Friday, October 26, 2012

happy Friday, everyone! i hope you all had a great week. i thought i would leave you all this week with a couple more holiday cards. i know that Halloween hasn't even come and gone and i keep popping in with Christmas cards, but i just love that time of year and i know it's going to creep up on me if i let it. the truth is, i used to be a BIG Scrooge. my birthday is one month from yesterday and if my mom even mentioned Christmas before then i would get so mad at her! since i've become an adult, i've embraced the entire holiday season, but most especially Christmas. i have no doubt that i will be getting into Halloween a lot more, too, as Mr. Bagubian gets older and becomes more aware of it--and candy!

my first card is extremely simple but encompasses my 3 most favorite things about the holiday season: it's cozy and wrapped with yarn like a warm sweater; the tag says "glad tidings" which denotes a festive, friendly feeling; and it's white--i absolutely LOVE and dream of a white Christmas.

so simple but happy and cozy and white--all the things i want for Christmas.

this next card is much more colorful! it's red and aqua and yellow but i still didn't really go overboard with embellishments on it.

i built it around the glittery dove tag which i got from Target a couple of years ago. (there i go using old supplies again!) the tag has so much going on that i wanted to keep the rest of the card uncluttered.

the aqua card base and yellow polka dot paper are from Papertrey Ink and the ribbon is from Stampin' Up. it's also a few years old. i layered some stitched vintage sheet music and a doily on top of them and then adhered the tag.

i promise that i will soon be showing you cards and projects featuring newer products--like the bright and happy Sleigh Ride from Crate Paper! right now, though, i'm really trying to use up some of my older supplies instead of spending lots of money on new things that i won't have a chance to use in the next two months. by showing you these new projects with old supplies, i'm hoping that you get inspired to pull out your older papers, too, if you have them. with a few tricks and the right combinations, you can find ways to make them look beautiful and current.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

ok, i finally got the chance to photograph my gift card boxes! yippy! that means i can share part 2 of the small boxes tutorial and offer you the template.

if you missed part one last week, you can read it here. it actually shows you all of the supplies you need to make the box, as well as how to assemble it. the supplies and steps are the same, whether you make the small favor box or the larger gift card box which i'll show you today. you can download the template for the gift card box here.

i wanted to show you a few examples that i made to give you some ideas for what you can do with these. the first few photos are of boxes that were included in the original post on the Crate Paper blog. i put the box together and decorated it with some seam binding and an Acorn Avenue Standout.

the blue flower paper is a mini card i made to house the gift card using another standout and a tape sticker. this set was musically themed--perfect for an iTunes or Amazon gc.

these other samples are new for this post and the reason for the delay...the first photos i took of them came out poorly and then it was several days before i had the opportunity to try again. luckily, they came out better the second time.

with the holidays approaching, i thought it would be a good idea to make a few using Crate's Sleigh Ride collection. the nice thing about these guys is that you can dress them up as much or as little as you'd like. i kept mine relatively simple only because if you have a lot of gifts to wrap, it's probably best not to spend hours decorating them.

scrunched pink seam binding with a glittery button is easy to do but packs a big punch. a Sleigh Ride phrase sticker, some punches and paper scraps, and an adhesive gem are also simple elements but create a nice little combo when layered together.

this box is even simpler. the reindeer are so cute that the box doesn't need much else--some white twine, part of a tag, and another snowflake punch. i think it helps when the embellishments are not all centered.

i love this paper and wanted to be sure that the cluster of chartreuse and gray trees was visible when i added my decorations. all i did was wrap a length of cream bamboo yarn around the box a few times, tie it in a bow, and add the "merry & bright" tag. it took less than 5 minutes!

so there's no need to go nuts on the details for these boxes. just the fact that you took the time to make them yourself is saying so much. with the addition of a few easy elements, you have a beautiful and personal way to give impersonal items such as gift cards or even cash.

i hope you enjoyed part 2 of my tutorial. please don't hesitate to email me or leave a comment if you have any questions. and if you decide to make these, i'd love to see them!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

hi everyone! i'm popping in with a short post today--just an update on the progress of our Little #2. i went to the doctor yesterday for my monthly checkup and we are doing great! my doctor likes to kid that we're unbelievably boring--test results are good, blood pressure's good, baby's heartbeat is good. here's hoping we can continue to be super boring!

this is our little peanut a couple of weeks ago, at 18 weeks. Thursday will be the start of our 21st week and it seems crazy how fast it's going by. i'm sure that's because we're staying busy with Mr. Bagubian, but seriously...we're halfway through. now we've just got to to work on picking a name.

Monday, October 22, 2012

hi, friends! how was your weekend? i can't believe how quickly we're moving through October, can you? we are finally getting some fall weather and i couldn't be happier. it was a bit gray and drizzly on Saturday and i think most everyone in SoCal welcomed it.we had a bit of an eventful outing on Saturday when Mr. Bagubian threw up in Wal-Mart! i should let you know that i don't do vomit well. i know no one likes it but i am actually afraid of it. (example: i have to close my eyes and cover my ears when it happens on TV!) i hate it so much and when i decided to become a mother i knew vomit would be an inevitable part of that life. luckily, i had no morning sickness with either pregnancy and i can handle infant spit up just fine. Mr. Bagubian has been sick before--in fact when he had a cold last month he threw up in my lap. each time he's been sick i've handled it okay because my first feeling is to feel bad for him. my second feeling is fear and worry that he is seriously ill. then there's the hamster wheel of anxiety: will he puke over and over and over again? how long will this last? will i get it? will my husband get it? the anxiety is really the worst part. Gooby didn't throw up again and was fine the next day. knock on wood, Hoss and i are also feeling good.so, thank you for listening and now let's move onto more pleasant topics...

today i have another Christmas card to share and, if you'll allow me, a special story about the little tree you'll see in the photos beside the card.

i'm using my old supplies again, too, so some of them may look familiar if you recall this post. this card has a vintage look to it and the "garden center" tag by Melissa Frances is several years old, but since it's meant to look vintage, i think it's still relevant. i added a bit of glitter to the flowers by the door to draw attention to them.

the burgundy flower by Prima is glittered, too. with a tiny jeweler's tag that i inked and stamped "Joy" onto and a button from my grandmother, that old flower is interesting again.

the glittered poinsettia and text paper is Making Memories and the chocolate snowflake paper behind it is from SEI's Alpine Frost collection. anyone remember that from a couple of years ago? a very good friend of mine gave me that collection pack at the time and i have hoarded it ever since then. so silly to be a scrap hoarder but i know a lot of you probably do the same thing!

i matted the poinsettia paper onto the snowflake paper and stitched the top and bottom edges with red thread. i inked a white doily with red ink and then layered a scalloped circle punched from the poinsettia paper on top of it.

for the envelope, i stamped a poinsettia in red ink on the lower right corner and added glitter and an adhesive gem. since it's for Christmas, even the envelope needs a little dazzle, too!

allow me to digress for a moment as i share a little story about my Grandma Peg. this tiny tree was decorated by her years and years ago. she and my Grandpa Bob shared a love for dollhouses. he built the houses and small furniture that fit inside, and she hand-made accessories to go with them--small pictures and frames for the walls, beautifully decorated bedclothes and pillows, itty-bitty woven rugs, and these lovely Christmas trees.

when each granddaughter turned twelve years old, Grandpa Bob built her a dollhouse and Grandma Peg pitched in with a box of hand-crafted treasures she made especially for that granddaughter. sadly, my grandfather passed away before i turned twelve. however, Grandma Peg, not wanting me to be left out, made me a dollhouse, too, with help from my uncle. she still gave me all of her hand-made treats, too, and i remember receiving a Christmas tree, not unlike this one.

this tree was hers and after she passed away, my mom found it in her house and gave it to me. the details are amazing and so was she. we're coming up on the 3rd anniversary of her death, November 1, and i guess i'm feeling nostalgic. i keep this tree on a shelf in my studio year-round because it reminds me of her and inspires me. the women on both sides of my family were/are a talented and crafty bunch and i am so thankful to have been blessed with some of their genes. that's all from me today, guys, but thanks so much for listening to all of my personal stories. take care and i'll talk with you soon!

Friday, October 19, 2012

hi there, folks! i'm back today to share a home decor project that i made for the Crate Paper Creative Weekly series. this month the focus was on signs and we were encouraged to take an autumn route with them. my project is based on the signs that you see, say in a busy town or city square, where you can go in all kinds of directions and there are points of interest all around you.

instead of points of interest, however, i took a quote about autumn and broke it down to look like a city sign. "autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." pretty, isn't it? and so true. autumn leaves are gorgeous and a true sign of fall.

i wanted an aged look for my picture so i distressed the edges and crumpled them a little. i kept my sewing thread ends visible and then took a nail file and sanded down the front of the paper. you can see some white spots that came through from doing that.

i used Acorn Avenue for this project since it's CP's fall collection. the colors and embellishments worked perfectly for this. i love those chipboard leaves!

the paper i used is Cashew Shop and the pattern of the oak chipboard leaf is actually the backside pattern of that. i added a few vintage buttons, some lace, and all that hand-stitching for some finishing touches. i've seen so many people lately machine stitching over chipboard so i thought i would give it a try, too. i'm not sure if it would be easier to machine stitch it--i'm sure that presents problems of it's own--but i was nervous to try this because i didn't think my piercing tool could handle it. it was slow-going but it did work and i'm glad i gave it a shot!

lastly, i wasn't sure when i started whether this would be a card or what--i just knew i wanted it to be bigger than the typical size card i make which is 4.25" x 5.5." this piece was just over 5" x 7" and if i made it into a card, i wasn't too sure who to give it to. in the end, i tried it out on--yes, ON, not IN--some different frames and liked the way it looked with this wooden one. i adhered it to the front of the frame, over the opening because it's slightly bigger than the opening. i ended up keeping it like this and set it out for display. it just may be a piece i save and take out every autumn.

thanks for sharing my fall decor project with me! have a great weekend!